Maia Song Contest 17

The Maia Song Contest 17 was the seventeenth edition of the Maia Song Contest. It took part in Loafousia, after Ninet's victory in the previous edition with the song "Elinor".

Bidding phase
ETL and the MBU announced the conditions under which cities and venues could announce their interest in hosting the contest.


 * The host city had to be near a major airport.
 * The venue must be available for the rehearsal period before the contest and one week after the conclusion of the contest
 * The venue must not be open-air, but an air-conditioned building with a capacity of at least 10,000 and a minimum ceiling height of 15 metres (49 ft), insulated for sound and light.
 * The green room must be located as close to the arena as possible (or within it), with a capacity of 300.

Host venue

Semi Final 1
Playlist available here. Recap available here.

Scoreboard available here.

, and  voted in this semi final.

Semi Final 2
Playlist available here. Recap available here.

Scoreboard available here.

, and  voted in this semi final.

Grand Final
Playlist available here. Recap available here.

A full scoreboard can be found here. Scorewiz available here.

Voting and spokespersons

 * Erin Richards
 * The Clique
 * Shauna Sand
 * Mayhem Miller
 * SuRie
 * Gillian McKeith
 * Johanna
 * Bebe Rexha
 * Gillian McKeith
 * Johanna
 * Bebe Rexha
 * Bebe Rexha
 * Bebe Rexha
 * Renata Bliss
 * Dodie Clark
 * Emma Willis
 * Maureen Oldman
 * Jai Stevens
 * Stewen Grybb
 * Dodie Clark
 * Emma Willis
 * Maureen Oldman
 * Jai Stevens
 * Stewen Grybb
 * Stewen Grybb
 * Ilija
 * Josie Gibson
 * Anthony Vincent
 * Rebecca Mader & Travis Fimmel
 * Lee Lin Chin
 * Anthony Vincent
 * Rebecca Mader & Travis Fimmel
 * Lee Lin Chin
 * Anthony Vincent
 * Rebecca Mader & Travis Fimmel
 * Lee Lin Chin
 * Rebecca Mader & Travis Fimmel
 * Lee Lin Chin
 * Lee Lin Chin
 * Lee Lin Chin

Lyrical eligibility of Björnsk entry
On 18 March 2018, “Ghost Voices” by Virtual Self was announced to be the Björnsk entry for Maia Song Contest 16. However, national press including the An Solen newspaper alleged that it may be ineligible to compete due to contest rules requiring all songs to contain lyrics. Columnist Nikolas Holmgren wrote “The song is nothing more than six words repeated in different combinations“, alluding to its disqualification. Despite this, the MBU released a statement on 20 March stating that the song was, in fact, allowed to compete.

MBU vs Arkaystian Broadcaster (NTA)
On 25 March 2018, the Arkaystian broadcaster, NTA, had their membership momentarily revoked by the MBU. This was due to disputes between the broadcaster and the contest's organizing committee over the running of the contest, mainly pertaining to the delay in the releasing in the semi finals. This resulted in the broadcaster supposedly hacking the MBU website and releasing a false logo and slogan, as well as posting numerous images of the file "Mimi". The broadcaster had the ban lifted a week later after being given a time-out by the MBU. NTA firmly deny the allegations and state that the MBU never warned the broadcaster over misconduct, and that the banning of the country momentarily was out of malice. By the time the ban was lifted on the broadcaster, the semi-finals of the contest were still not revealed. NTA threatened to withdraw from the contest. This ultimately did not happen, as the MBU at the time of the allegations was dismantled with immediate effect, leading to rumours Arkaystia took behind-the-scenes procedures to challenge its ban.

Nori selection of Chris Brown
Some fans took issue to the internal selection of Nori rapper and singer Chris Brown due to his past domestic violence towards Papavertellan singer Rihanna. Brown pleaded guilty to the aforementioned charges in 2009, expressing the incident as his "deepest regret" and saying that he has repeatedly apologized to Rihanna and "accepts full responsibility". Despite this, many users took to social media in protest of the singer's selection, with support of some domestic violence charities. Neither the Nori broadcaster nor the MBU have responded to the incidents, and the entry has not been withdrawn.

Televoting malfunctions
In the first semi-final, a tallying error was made by the Foronian broadcaster in which the country attempted to give points twice to the same country. As a result, a back-up jury was used. Also, during the broadcast of the second semi-final, there was a delay in the presentation of results due to technical errors regarding the collection of votes from the Lussantian and São Rican televotes. This led to complaints from the national broadcasters from Arkaystia, D'unelaleh, and Klapaucius regarding scheduling of other programmes. In addition, Greenforest was unable to provide valid points whatsoever.

On 15 April 2018, the Arkaystian Head of Delegation called out the inclusion of late votes, stating that it was unfair on countries that may have missed out on the Grand Final as a result of their inclusion, specifically in semi-final 2 where two sets of late votes were allowed, totaling 116 points. The MBU rebutted that Arkaystia had a "wishy-washy" stance on this. Head of Press, Sofi Marinova shouted in several languages when interviewed by reporters, with her English response being "it not fair, it like cheating". These feelings were applauded by the Klapaucian delegation. The MBU spokesperson, Lynda Woodruff, responded the next day that "the MBU is absolutely committed to maintaining transparency and fairness in the Maia Song Contest". She added, "the MBU will seek to ensure that all countries have the resources they need to participate, requiring some delegations to plan preparations in the event of future errors, and applying sanctions where necessary".

Other countries
Eligibility for potential participation in the Maia Song Contest requires a national broadcaster with active MBU membership that would be able to broadcast the contest. The MBU will issue an invitation of participation in the contest to all active members.